//------------------------------//
// Grubers Departure, Hearths Warming Special 3 [17] 
// Story: Stories in Stone, Capricorn's Curse 
// by TDR 
//------------------------------//

Stories in Stone
Capricorn's Curse
By TDR







Hearths Warming Special Three
Grubers Departure








“....There's something wrong! They're coming back down!” A business suit clad Earth pony shouted. He points out one of the office windows that overlooked the lobby showing a stampede of ponies, donkey's, and a hoof full of other races running back out of a stairwell into the lobby.

“Blow the roof.” A noble sounding Griffon with a thick well groomed beard and a  angry look in his eyes stated.

“But he's still up there!”the business pony protested.

“BLOW IT!” the Griffon shouted as he pushed the the Earth pony aside, moving over to a box with a T shaped plunger on it, his claw slamming down on the device.

On the roof a blue stallion with a sort hair cut and a bandaged wing looked out over the top of the massively tall building to city far below before swallowing hard and checking the fire hose fastened around his waist.

“By the stars, I promise I will never even THINK about going up in a tall building again.” The blue Pegasus muttered looking back over his shoulder as a small airship powered by a rapidly peddling earth pony comes up over the other side of the roof. The Pegasus's eyes widen at the sight of it  and the large cross bow aimed at him from one of the passengers.

“Please don't let me die.....” The Pegasus muttered before leaping off the roof, the fire hose trailing behind him, dark blue tail whipping as he plummeted off the roof as it exploded the moment his hooves left the ledge.

The explosion lite up the city and took out the airship in a massive ball of fire, it also broke loose the winch and winding wheel of the fire hose sending the screaming Pegasus down ten more stories before the bouncing winch catches against the edge of the building causing the blue Pegasus to slam into a large glass window on the side of the building. 

Bloody hooves kick against the glass as he struggled to get in, the high altitude safety glass and lack of any sturdy position kept him from breaking through. He kicked off the glass swinging out and bringing a Griffoneese cross bout out from his belt with his good wing firing repeatedly at the glass. The bolts slam into the glass shattering it as he swings back, breaking through the window and landing with a thud on the glass covered ground. The Pegasus groans as the winch finally slips free of the edge of the roof, the massive steel wheel falling past the window, the weight of it starting to drag the struggling Pegasus  back towards the window. He panics, grabbing and yanking at the hose looped around his waist fighting to get it free before he's dragged off the edge of the building.  His rear hooves slip out over the ledge before he gets it free falling back onto the floor with a sigh of relief.......

====================================
[Sweet Apple Acres, a few months before the appearance of Tamberlane, Hearths Warming Eve]

“This isn't a Hearths Warming story.” Glimmer protested loudly.

“Hey Die Hard, is  so a Hearths Warming story. The whole thing takes place during Hearths Warming.” Scootaloo responded.

“Hearths Warming stories don't usually have explosions and Griffonese terrorists. Talon huffed, his feathers looking ruffled as he knew the movie Scootaloo was telling them and he took offense at the Griffons being the bad guys.   

“I kinda like it.” Elusive stated.

“You would.” Glimmer snorted.

“Isn't Die hard the one that stared your dad?” Shin questioned.

Dawn didn't say anything as she was trying to eat a candy cane as big as she was and it was being difficult.

Scootaloo rolled her eyes as Pip chuckled.  She and Pip had pulled foal duty for the night while the adults and the older foals were in the other rooms socializing  or playing video games. The farm foals and the Pelt brothers were outside in the snow playing and finishing up a few of their chores as well as making sure the Trees were covered for the blizzard that was scheduled to come in tonight. Big Mac Rainbow Dash, Starfall, and  Peach blossom were out there with them. Their foals were already in bed as young as they were. The slightly older group of  Shin, Talon, Glimmer, Elusive, Dawn, and  Rynthia were all in the main living room being watched by Scootaloo and  Pip, though the latter was keeping a a close eye on Dawn. Despite her current feigned innocence with eating a Candy cane, the orange scaled foal had already made several attempts on the presents.

“ Guess they didn't like the story?” Pip chuckled.

“Clearly...” Scootaloo pouted looking at her colt friend.” Think you can do better?”

“Probably not, but I'll give it a go.” Pip shrugged getting the foals attention.

================================================

[ The Kitchen. ]

Soarin frowned looking out in the  family room at Pip and Scootaloo, just waiting for a chance to pop out and break the pair of them up. He had already swiftly removed the few strands of mistletoe the pair had nearly walked under. Though in one case he had gotten caught himself under it with Celestia. The sun princess had played along and laughed it off giving the Pegasus stallion a quick kiss, though the looks he got from both Princess Twilight and his wife Spitfire made made that mistake almost more worrying than his daughter and Pip kissing.

The Apple family gathering was massive this year. Shining Armor, Cadence, Shin, Glimmer, and a hoof full of Crystal Guard, Jer'rahd, Luna, A hoof full of Changeling Guard, And Kirin Guard including Talia and Elektra who came from Gallopagos with their husbands to bring presents to Elusive. Elusive of course with Both Princess Twilight Sparkle and Princess Celestia. Spike and Bleu had shown up with a few Dragons and a couple Linorm, Including the young white dragon , Spines, who seemed far less thrilled to be there. Pip and Scootaloo who conveniently had the time off. Paint Brush Lilly, though Diamond Tiara had declined in hearing that  Applebloom was going to be there, with a small entourage of Elk. Sweetiebelle and Button mash along with the rest of her changeling band was invited though they were the ones going to pick up Applebloom with their airship and they hadn't gotten here  yet. Trust Sweetiebelle, the mare with a flying ship of her own to be late.

Ice Berry Lily and Beryl  were here as were Orange and Hunter, though the latter was giving Jer'rahd a wide berth. Peach Blossom and  Starfall were there along with their young foals Starlight and Orchid. Soarin and Spitfire were both invited as were Regents Breezy and Dusty Mist, along with their son Talon and a gathering of Griffon Guard. Rynthia and Dawn came with the Kaisurs, and Zecora showed up as well along with a Zebra stallion most of them seemed to ignore for some reason.  Briar Rose and Moskau had turned down the invitation though they had sent the foals presents. Mr. and res Sparkle were here. Discord, Pinkie Pie, Cheese Sandwich and Maud Pie were all around some where as well. And of course there was Big Mac, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash and AppleJack, as well as their foals Butterscotch,Apple Blossom, Dandelion, and Zap a plethora of animals and a the Zebra twins Wolf and Fox.

With all those present large tents had been set up outside with heaters and tunnels of smaller tents connected them all to one another. The barn was also in use for the larger guests and Sweetiebelle's air ship had a spot to park somewhere in the field.

Given that every one who came brought a dish or ten of food with them there was plenty of food for every one and much of it was exotic fare given how many different races were here.

Right now Soarin however was more interested in his daughter in the family room alone with Pip …. well, and some foals, but still.

“Something wrong Soarin?” a voice asked behind him.

Soarin froze at the question his ears flattening to his head as he slowly turned back to look over his shoulder.

Standing there with a fairly large mug of  Sweet Apple hard cider was a gray Kirin with orange scales and one green and one red eye. His amber mane and tail had grown rather long and he was covered in scars, the marks through his fur that were old wounds showing patches of orange scales that had grown over the scar tissue, so perhaps they were not really scars any more. There were a number of smaller ones though a prominent patch of fur was gone from his chest  and a ring of orange scales was around one leg like a bracelet. Depending on the lighting the scales reflected the light as more red than orange giving the scars a look of raw wounds. Of course the whole intimidating look of the old fanged Kirin soldier was completely ruined by the bright green santa hat perched on his head half fallen over his red eye and hiding one of his ears.

“Ummmmmmm no nothing sir...” Soarin stated cursing his luck that the father of the cad dating his daughter would catch him plotting. 

“Sure it's nothing....Scootaloo still telling the story of Die Hard?” Jer'rahd asked peeking his head around to look past Soarin into the room through the crack in the door before taking a sip of his drink.

“Nah... Glimmer and Talon didn't like it. Pity too , it was one of my best movie roles. Until the second one killed what little fame I built up there.” Soarin grumbled.  The movie had been one of his side gigs  when he was considering leaving the Wonderbolts before he and Spitfire had gotten married. That it was still popular even after the second one and his returning to the bolts was a testament to the greatness of it. The fact movie crystals had gotten much cheaper and the players were almost affordable enough for everyone to have one would just make his royalties pour in that much more.

“Wonder why. Isn't it a Hearths Warming Movie?” Jer'rahd asked.

“Yes..... see some one else gets it.” Soarin sighed, glad the topic was moving away from why he was here watching them. “Two types of ponies in the world, those that think Die Hard is a Hearths warming movie and those who are wrong.”

Jer'rahd chuckled taking another sip of his cider. To be perfectly honest the former pony unnerved him quite a bit. Soarin was large by Pegasus standards and he wasn't used to many ponies being taller than him. But here he was at a Hearths Warming party with the Princesses, the former Princess, Big Mac, and Jer'rahd, not to mention all the Dragons and Griffons. He felt like a dwarf even before Jer'rahd's terrifying presence kicked in.

“Still trying to get Scootaloo to pick some one other than Pip?” Jer'rahd asked calmly trying to hide a smile as the Pegasus visibly flinched and turned a shade or two paler blue.

“Ummmm. Well....” Soarin began a number of things running through his mind for getting out of this awkward and rather disturbing situation. This was the colts father after all...

“Good keep it up.” Jer'rahd stated calmly turning away from the door, his long serpentine tail swaying behind him.

“What?” Soarin stammered.

“What do you mean 'what'?” Jer'rahd asked. “If Pip can't get past or weather an over protective father trying to defend his daughter, he doesn't deserve the mare any way.”

“What?” Soarin stammered again.

“ Huh guess I am a bit odd then. I'm sure you've heard the legends of my actions against those who have tried to date Orange and to a lesser degree Berry?”

“There's still a fairly sizable betting pool at the barracks regarding  Berry.  “Soarin admits. “Oddly with Orange, Hunter won the pot for himself by betting on the long shot odds of ...well, himself. He was a sneaky one, playing low key but still trying until he actually succeeded. I lost near a hundred bits on that.”

“Yeah I did too.” Jer'rahd snorted. “Luna and I have an arrangement of sorts, she tries to drive off any interested in dating our sons and I try to drive off any who go after our daughters. The point isn't to make them old maids, or bachelors for life, but to see what fillys and colts care enough about our foals to push past what we do. I'm assuming  you are doing much the same?”

“Well sorta......”

“Something wrong with Pip?”

“No, it's mostly that I expected her to date a bit more before she found some one she wanted to be with. I never really got the chance to  drive any useless ones off.” Soarin admitted and Jer'rahd nodded.

“ I under stand that. Not sure many others would.... well at least not yet. Starfall never got the chance with Cloud Dancer, but I fell sorry for anyone who might like her and Peach Blossom's foals. Big Mac is gonna be much worse than any of us though I can already tell.  And Stars help any one who likes Elusive, they have to deal with two Princesses, and a host of Kirin Guard.”

“And Rynthia and Dawn?” Soarin asked.

“Oh, I won't feel sorry for any one trying to date them at all.” Jer'rahd smiled a sadistic grin. “Tell you what , how about I give you a few pointers here and there. While I doubt you'll drive off Pip, I'm curious to see how he'd react to a few things I want to try on Berry, Dawn and Rynthia's potential suitors. What do you say?”

“I'd say there's something wrong with you, but you have my interest.” Soarin admitted.

========================================================

[ Living room] 

“ But why can't we open presents?” Dawn bemoans rolling onto her back and giving her best 'cute look'  she heard Scootaloo gasp, though Pip clearly remained impassive. Curse her brothers immunity to her powers of adorableness.

Because we have to wait until Hearth's Warming, Not Hearth's Warming eve.” Pip stated.

“Besides it's all socks and school supplies any way. Why are you in a hurry to open that?” Scootaloo chimed in getting a glare from Pip. “ Whoops wasn't supposed to say that”

“NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!” Dawn cries out falling over her little wings  fanning madly, clearly the only one of the foals who believed Scootaloo.

“Do you have to torment them so?” Pip sighed.

“Well it's not like I have any of my own to torment yet...” Scootaloo smiled evilly making Pip turn bright red, before she falls off the couch laughing.

The foals mostly ignore it  as they were used to Scootaloo and Pip acting weird around one another, still that didn't help alleviate their boredom. Like Dawn they were all eager to tear into the massive pile of presents under the tree, unlike Dawn they could at least hide that fact.

Still Pip could tell they were far too excited and decided to pick up where Scootaloo left off with a story.

“ Alright. Elusive drag Dawn back over here, I can see her flailing closer to the gifts.” Pip points out as Elusive grabs the little Kirin by the tail and drags her back over  to the small group on the carpet.” Since you didn't like Scootaloo's Hearths Warming story how about I tell one of my own?”

“Is it a  Santa Hooves story?” Shin asked.

“No it's not a Santa Hooves story,He's in it though, also remind me to put out some cookies for him before we go to bed, always good to thank him for working tonight, particularly after how much he did for every one that first Hearths Warming after Tirek attacked. If not for the food and supplies he and his Caribou provided  there would be a number of creatures that wouldn't have survived that winter at all.” Pip explained.”No this is a story about when I finally got a present I always wanted and all the nonsense that led up to that.”

The foals looked up with some interest, the talk of a presents gained their attention more than the brief history of Santa's greatest gifts to Equss six years ago. They had all been too young to recall that  any way.

“Oh ? The present you always wanted huh? I thought we hooked up after school let out, not Hearths Warming....” Scootaloo chuckled batting her eyes at the clearly embarrassed Pip.

“It's not you...... Why are you being so flirty ,this isn't....... your dads listening at the door isn't he?” Pip sighed.

“Yup.” Scootaloo chimed.

“Please stop trying to make him angrier at me. And no it isn't about you Scootaloo it's about when I got this.” Pip stated shifting on the couch and pulling  his sword from  his belt, spinning the metal ring  attached to the end around his hoof to bring the blade upright in the air before his eyes the lights of the tree glinting off the shadowed metal.

The revelation of the blade seemed to interest Talon and Elusive more, though Glimmer seemed far less enthused and the other three simply stared on as if waiting for an explanation of some kind.

==================================

[Canterlot a few years after  the War of Gods ]

Bells filled the air chiming the hours as the scene shifts from the modern day to the snow covered streets of  Ponyville and New Canterlot. Most of the reconstruction from the war had been finished last year, and this was the first year that everything seemed 'normal' in Equestria.

The view moves along until it reaches the Castle itself and shifts down to show the main doors leading to the Royal Quarters of Princess Luna and her Consort Jer'rahd Kaisur.

A trio of foals burst out of the  door darting through the snowy court yard as a few Guards and servants look on for a moment. The smaller colt, wearing a dumb blue striped and pom pom topped stocking cap was clearly a young and tiny Pipsqueak, bundled up to nearly two times his size in coats and such. The other was a slightly larger Paint Brush Lily faring little better in the coat department. Behind them a little filly hobbled along bouncing in the snow, bundled tight enough to look like a tick ready to pop, Ice Berry Lily.

*“My old house, gone now, but it's not like I could ever forget it. And yes I was forced to wear that Dumb stocking cap.” Adult pip sighed.” Ma was always terrified we would catch our death of cold. After Brush got heat stroke one year in twenty degree weather she cut down on the covering a little.

The foals met up with a few others to run through the snow.

*”Cap aside it didn't matter, Hearths Warming was on it's way, the glorious and beautiful holiday that the entire foal year revolved upon.” Adult Pip narrated.

The scene shifted to down town New Canterlot that night. Trees and other decorations dotted the city  making the land look like the starry night itself when viewed from above.

*”Down town Canterlot was prepared for it's yearly bacchanalia of peace in Equestria and good will towards all...” Adult Pip explained.

Ponies milled around doing shopping as a band played Hearths Warming Tunes off to the side for donations. A few carolers dotted the area, their songs mingling with the general noise of the place giving a excited mishmash of melody and off key music to the air.

The group of foals were seen again, along with a tall dark blue mare who was as bundled up as the foals were and a rather burly looking gray stallion dressed head to hoof in furs with a large scarf hiding his features save a piercing pair of red and green eyes. He stood nearby scanning the crowd and the ponies in it, more than the decorations in the store window. 

*“J.C. Prancy's corner window display was usual a high water mark of the pre Hearths Warming season. Ponies packed earmuff to earmuff , jostled for in wonderment before a golden tinkling display of mechanized magical joy.” Pip explained “Keep in mind this was before all the trade deals and such with Crystal Empire came about. Magic crystals, movies, and video games were still quite rare and very expensive. Ten years ago half the stuff you take for granted didn't even exist.”

The window display was filled with running toy trains, little zeppelins, and tin Pegasi swooping around in the air,  fake snow drifted down from above, dolls, tin soldiers, wind up carts, and  boats, glimmering snowflakes of magic, and a large  manikin in the middle on a rocking chair, dressed up as Santa hooves. The magic animating it made it turn it's eyes and head looking out over those gathered to see the display. Around the edges of the  massive scene some of the other things the store offered were on display, a few small appliances, some tools and clothing, though in one back corner, half hidden by a enormous bathrobe, was what Pipsqueak was seeking.  The small pony shifted away from his siblings making his way along the window display to what he was seeking.

*“And there it was, my holy grail of Hearths Warming gifts.” Pip smirked as he reminisced. “A drop forged reenforced, blued, pure water quenched, flame enchanted sword. It was the sort of thing that only rich Guards could afford, or those with connections. Forged by a Dragon smith named  Crimson Strap-hanger, all his work was immaculate and beyond belief in terms of skill.  Da had joked about trying to get him to make weapons for the Guards, but he refused to mass produce his works as he considered it more an art than anything else. “

Pipsqueak stared through the glass  highly focused on the weapons displayed before him.

*“For months I had been scheming to get my hooves on one of these. My fevered brain seethed with the effort of trying to come up with the infinitely subtle devices necessary to implant the Crimson Strap-hanger designed blade indelibly into my parents subconscious.”

The scene shifted to Pipsqueak sitting on his bed in a room he shared with Brush looking over a set of paper adds for the sword smiths work. 

“Pip!, Brush!” Luna yelled from the living room. “I want you out here in two minutes.”

Pipsqueak blinked  seeing his chance he rushed over to the dresser pushing past Brush as he protested the treatment, though the smaller colt had much more muscle than his brother so the protestations were easily ignored. Snatching up the fliers, he darted into his parents room  rummaging through the  magazines that lay on the nightstand and shoving the fliers for the sword smith into the pages. The moment Luna opened her copy of Equestria weekly magazine she would be subjected to the  sales pitch.

Out in the dining room a pair of ponies sat nervously. Jer'rahd was sitting at the end of the table  his head buried in a newspaper muttering something about a hoof ball team trading a star player for another player.  Berry sat next to him, trying to hide under the tablecloth. Pip and Brush came in and winced as they saw the reason for the muted actions of their family.

Thick black smoke mixed with greens and purples poured out of the kitchen door way, the crash of pans and pots could be heard as well as the occasional flash of light as the smoke started to develop it's own weather system.

Pipsqueak winced and took a seat next to Jer'rahd looking at the kitchen.

“Ma's cooking again?” he muttered.

“She got there first.” Jer'rahd muttered in response. “ Seems some one in Los Pegasus swallowed a yo yo.....”

“They put some silly things in the paper......” Brush pointed out in his usual dead pan.

“What do you mean silly? That's real news...” Jer'rahd protested trying to keep the levity high for the disaster they were to face soon.

*“Now Rynthia and Dawn both know about ma's cooking, but for  you others let me share this much. Ma is many things, but a cook ain't one of them. Despite that, at the time she was doing her best to try and cook for us because that's what she thought a mother should do for her foals. She is the only mare I know who has managed to set fire to cold cereal she was just pouring milk on. She's burned water.... Not turned it all to steam by leaving the pot on too long, actually burned it, it was like a crispy black flavorless jello. She made a Spinach lasagna that gained sentience and tried to take over Equestria. Even since she became a Changeling and has some of the best cooks that ever existed  stored away in that Hive mind, she can't cook. “Pip sighed “She tries, she really does, but when the poison control unit was summoned so many times that they set up their own clinic down the hall from our residence, you know there's an issue. Da is the only pony to ever finish a full meal of what Ma has cooked, something that has made more ponies scared of him  than anything else he's done. Even so he was usually the one who cooked in the morning, going out of his way to get their first most days. But some days he wasn't quick enough.”

The saloon style doors to the kitchen pushed open and Luna practically pranced in. Her hair flowed behind her, slightly singed and she wore a pink apron, also singed, reading 'hug the cook'. By this point Berry had vanished under the table and Brush had done the smart thing and lingered back, he was probably hiding in his room still.

*“It was with  a good bit of worry that Da and I watched Ma come out and set something before the two of us that might once have been hay bacon and eggs. What it seemed to be now, was a writhing abomination against the cosmos made of ninety percent grease and ten percent of the cutting board that she had used to chop vegetables that had given their lives to whatever this was.”

Jer'rahd lowered the paper as Luna went back into the kitchen and sighed softly, before his magic took Pipsqueak's plate dumping it onto his and then dousing the lot of it with pepper.

“Pip tell the Guard on the way out to let the hazmat team know they need to get another lead container ready, there's bound to be leftovers.” Jer'rahd muttered.

*“At the time I had a subtle plan to get them to arm me, by mentioning grizzly bears near Bon Bon's  candy store. Then upon later reflection I realized that wouldn't mean anything since Fluttershy's animals came went there all the time for gumdrops.” Pip explained. “Besides when ma cooked it was better to cut and run before she asked if you wanted some more.”

Slipping out the door I let one of the Guards posted know about what was happening. Luckily due to the smoke and a few of the maids passing out in the surrounding corridors they were already on top of the situation.

*“One of them, if I'm not mistaken it might have actually been Hunter before he became one of the drill instructors for the 42nd, decided to try and make small talk, most likely to find an in with Orange. Clearly being punted through one wall wasn't enough for him. To see things like they are now, it might have been for the best he was a hard headed lout.” Pip explained.”Though I am with Da on this, she could have done better.” 

“Hey colt... so what did you want for  Hearths Warming any way?” Hunter asked as Pipsqueak moved past the posted Guards with Berry. It was easy to see  the stallion didn't really care what Pipsqueak wanted and was looking to segway into something else if Pipsqueak took the bait, which he did.

“I want one of the official Crimson Strap-hanger sword....”Pipsqueak winced as he blurted that out,  knowing what would be next.

“Nah kid, you poke your eye out.” Hunter explained with a chuckle. “So what do you think Orange might  want....  hey  kid.... where you going?” Hunter called as Pip grumbled rushing along to keep up with Berry. 

“Likely she wishes to be left alone.” Brush stated from behind Hunter in his usual deadpan, the young Guard yelped in surprise as the other posted guard laughed at his companions efforts. “Do you really think one of the daughters of Princess Luna can be bought with baubles purchased on a Guard's salary?”

*“Normally Brush is quiet, has little to no emotion in his voice. He's gotten a bit better over time, though back then the only things that could usually rile him up were if some one was messing with Berry or bothering any of his other adopted family members. When he was younger he had a real hair trigger, and a ton of snark to go with it. And he had no trouble directing that ire towards a target he felt warranted it. He's mellowed out considerably, but I lost count of the fights I had to bail him out of that he started because some one insulted, or decided to pick on Berry, or the rest of us within his earshot.”

Heading to school Pipsqueak's ears drooped at Hunter's words. 'You'll poke your eye out', the veritable putting their hoof down logic grown ups tended to hit a foal with when they wanted something that could be considered dangerous. Thus far he had avoided having Ma or Pa utter those words, simply due to his not having told them directly what he wanted. But to hear another adult say them filled him with dread. If Berry or Brush noticed his mood they said nothing, though that wasn't odd in Berry's case, as they made our way to school. The usual Pegasi escort gliding far above, keeping a watch out for the Royal foals while also letting them have a semblance of normalcy in life.

*“Despite the plethora of Guards that always surrounded us, my brain  pounded me with visions of creeping marauders working through the snow, bandits and Changelings with only me armed with a trusty sword to keep them at bay. My mind always showed me visions of  myself in bright shiny silver armor weapon in hoof wading through hordes of enemies and sending them flying with a swing, bodies falling and flailing in comical ways as others begged for me to save them. The villains crawling along the roof, over fences and between holes in the walls, practically oozing out of every where to fill the courtyard with villainy. In the end they were left as nothing but piled bodies with their tongues hanging out and cartoonishly x'd out eyes showing their defeat.”

Pipsqueak looked up as some of his friends came up to meet him. Rumble and Feather Weight. Both were older than the spotted colt, and were clearly much larger, but they had been friends since that first Nightmare Night when Pipsqueak had come to Ponyville. It also didn't hurt that out of all the other foals these two were the only ones who didn't bring up the past very often, and focused mostly on the future. Pipsqueak liked that, thinking to much about how things used to be hurt more often than not.

“So what are you doing?”  Pip asked catching up with  Rumble.

“What does it look like I'm doing, picking my nose?” Rumble grumbled, more heavily bundled than the Kaisur siblings, So much so that his wings were pinned to his sides under three coats, something that aggravated him a great deal. His brother was way too over protective of him. Still after the war Thunderlane was all he had left so he would never complain directly to his face. He'd raise Tartarus about it  to his friends though.

“Nice one smart ass. Any way I asked my dad about sticking your tongue to  metal flag poles in winter 
and he says it'll freeze right to the pole, just like I told yah.” Featherweight added as he fluttered up to join them. Unlike Rumble and Pip Featherweight hadn't lost any of his family to the war, something that he never brought up if he could help it.

“Feh, what would he know about anything?” Rumble demanded.

“He knows cause he once saw a stallion stick his tongue to a railroad track on a bet and the fire department had to come out to get his tongue off the track cause he couldn't” Featherweight explained.

By that point they had made it to the Schoolhouse. Miss Cheerilee stood outside waving the foals in out of the cold.  A Guard stood by talking in low tones with her, likely finding out the days events from the teacher to plan accordingly. 

*“Miss Cheerilee had not been happy when a full guard compliment was added to the school, despite the additional funding that the post had brought to the school. The Guards posted at the school house were not really thrilled either. And the officer in charge, a Kirin unicorn mare named Captain Night Feather, was highly annoyed after all she had been through to have such a post as well. After a while however relations between the teachers and Guards got better, particularly after the incident with Diamond Tiara the year before. Da had been fit to tear the whole unit a new one for letting it get that far, though Miss Cheerilee had intervened on their behalf. The teacher was well used to dealing with angry parents, though dealing with a outraged Applejack, Jer'rahd, princess Luna, and Filthy Rich all at once surely taxed her skills.  An arraignment was made and the whole situation was worked out with little change aside from the teachers and posted Guard getting along much better. Of course we now know that was also the incident that finally netted Miss Cheerilee a special some pony for Hearts and Hooves day, but I doubt any one wants to hear about that.” Adult Pip muttered the last bit as he noticed several of the foals gagging. 

Class passed mostly uneventfully aside from Miss Cheerilee taking a few joke bad teeth that Snips and Snails brought in. At recess nearly all the foals found themselves out in the snow standing around the flagpole flying the Equestrian flag of the two sisters.

“ You're full of beans, so's your dad.” Rumble snorted having left half his coats in the classroom so he could stretch his wings.

“Says who?” Featherweight demanded.

“Says me.” Rumble growled.

“Oh yeah?”

“Yeah.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.”

“Well I double dare you.” Featherweight challenged.

*“The exact exchange and phrase in the nuance of this ritual is very important.” Adult Pip narrates.

“You kidding? Stick my tongue to that stupid pole? That's dumb.” Rumble stated.

“That's cause you know it'll stick.” Featherweight smirked.

“You're full of it!” Rumble snapped.

“Oh Yeah?” Feather weight demanded.

“YEAH” Rumble snapped back.

“Well I Double Diamond Dog Dare yeah!” Featherweight stated.

*“Now it was serious a Double Diamond Dog Dare.” Adult Pip explained. “ All that was left was the sinister Triple Diamond dog dare.”

“This is dumb....” Rumbled commented looking at the widely grinning face of Featherweight. The thinner Pegasus knew he had him and he struck hard before Rumble could protest further.

“I triple Diamond Dog Dare you.” Featherweight smirked.

“Fine.....” Rumble growled, pushing some of the others gathered aside and stepping closer to face the pole. Everyone else watching intently.  Rumbled licked his lips, sticking out his tongue and inched closer, until with a bit of a jerk his tongue touched the pole.

“This is nothing.....” Rumbled  stammered trying to pull back. He blinked trying to pull back again his tongue not moving from the cold metal pole.” Stuck.... Stuck? STUCK!!!!!” Rumble started to freak out his eyes widening. 

The other gathered foals stared at him, their eyes wide.  As the Pegasus flailed trying to pull back wincing in pain each time. Every one around him stared, not sure what to do when the school bell rang. A few of those on the outside of the circle backed away rushing back towards the building before they were late to class.

Pip started off as well,leaving a panicked feather weight and a even more panicked Rumble looking after him.

“What are we gonna do?” Featherweight flailed.

“I dunno the bell rang...... maybe we can get a Guard unicorn to get him off?” Pipsqueak suggested.” but we can't be late.”

Featherweight nodded and the pair of them rushed off leaving Rumble there screaming.

Not long after all every one came back in, the foals in the class room were watching out the window as Miss Cheerilee, Nightfeather, a bunch of other Guards and the Ponyville Fire Department were working to get Rumble unstuck from the pole. Well everyone but Featherweight and Pipsqueak were watching out the window. Those two were pretending nothing was happening.

After an half an hour Rumble was escorted back into the classroom, a rather foul tasting healing salve on his tongue. 

*“Miss Cheerilee of course went into the usual adult rant about how we should feel bad for putting Rumble up to it, but  Rumble wouldn't talk about who pressured him into it, and he did bring it upon himself. Also both Featherweight and I knew the dark furred Pegasus was already plotting his revenge on us. It was epic of course, but that's another story involving tree sap, a bunch of  bull frogs, and a very angry white bunny.” Adult Pip explained.” What happened next in class of course was too perfect.”

“Alright class. I have an assignment for you. A theme.”Miss Cheerilee stated to the groans of protest from every one. “The theme is 'What I want for Hearths Warming.' And I want it handed in tomorrow morning.  Two pages, single spacing and in print, I've given up trying to read the scribbles some of you call cursive.”

*“This was the shining light at the end of my tunnel. “ Adult Pip smirked. “ I knew when  Miss Cheerilee read my magnificent eloquent theme, that she would sympathize with my plight and everything would work out. Somehow. My mind filled of visions  of her having some sort of mock celebration as she graded it, flinging A pluses around like candy as the other foals carried me around in jubilant celebration of my glorious paper.”

The walk home was uneventful. There were only a few bullies in the school to begin with and after what had happened between AppleBloom and Diamond Tiara, as well as the results of those who got on Pipsqueak's bad side, no one bothered them. The Guards flying overhead on their walk back didn't hurt either.  The walk back was a great deal quieter as well, with Rumble being muted due to his tongue. None of us really envied him as his brother was going to flip out. We thought Thunderlane would calm down a bit after he started dating the new head of the weather patrol, a mare named Lightning Dust, but according to Rumble he just got worse and drove both of them nuts. Luckily it seemed Lightning Dust had gone through a bad run of things as well during the war and she put up with Thunderlanes over protectiveness far better than his last mare friend had.

*“Still, I had work to do that essay wasn't going to write itself.” Adult Pip added.

He had been at it for a few hours when a great deal of noise drew Pipsqueak from his paperwork. Barking hounds, roaring lions, and various other animal sounds filled the air along with the random shouting of Da and the occasional giggle from Berry.

*“I knew that sound. It was the Canterlot gardens menagerie. A sizable group of animals who lived in the parks and Royal Gardens around the palace. For creatures that lived in the middle of the city they were far too easily spooked, as shown by their absolute terror of Fluttershy. The thing was, after the war when ever anything spooked them they would immediately run to Da. Evidently after his return from getting rid of the monster that he used to have in him, suddenly every animal everywhere, not only had no fear of him at all, but many tried to seek shelter with him when something scared them. Ma swears it was something  grace did to him, though she didn't have any proof.” Adult Pip explained to the foals. “Thankfully it didn't last long but because of that as Dawn and Rynthia know. Da's not a big fan of pets or wild animals in general. That may have something to do with his ongoing war against Tiberious. For a creature that is only supposed to live eight to ten years at best, that little opossum is clearly sticking around just to annoy him.”

Pipsqueak poked his head out of his room looking down the hall as a  group of raccoons rushed across the living room being chased by Berry. Da was trying to shoo some birds out the door and Brush was attempting to run some bunnies out before they made too much a mess of the carpet. Ma was laughing too hard to help, likely due to the sight of Da being hugged and climbed on by nearly every animal he was trying to run back out the door. That and there was a massive bear, three times his size trying to hide underneath him.

It took a while but all the animals were finally pushed back out the door and brought back to their homes. Da quickly rushed to make dinner before Ma did, and left the clean up for Ma and the foals.

*”Like the cooking Ma insisted on trying to be a normal mother. The problem was she hadn't had to do anything for herself in so long with all the maids and guards that she wasn't very skilled at it. She had gotten much better than when she started, but that was because Da gave up trying to convince her to stop and just asked one of the maids to train her. We also pitched in for cleaning and up keep of the quarters. It kept things grounded, often made us all forget that were were really royalty. I mean who ever heard of royalty doing their own dishes?” Adult Pip explained.  

After dinner it was Ma who answered the door when some pony knocked, only to be greeted by a massive crate.

“Umm hello?” Luna blinked. Looking around and not finding any one, though the crate had a large note on it. She looked at the Guards stationed by the door who nodded a little to her. “ What is this?”

“Hearths Warming Present for Drill Instructor Kaisur, your highness. We already scanned it , it's not a bomb or obviously dangerous, though it was from his latest graduating class so I would expect something.” The guard on the left stated.

“Might be dead fish covered in cow dung.”the Guard on the right smirked. Luna frowned knowing what class that one graduated from at least.

*“After Da's third training class a tradition started, where the graduating class sending the overseeing instructor a gift. Needless to say it wasn't usually a nice gift. I'm pretty sure auntie Celestia started it as she was in the third class. The first year was a box that simply exploded showering everything in cake batter. Another year it was a popcorn machine enchanted to not stop popping until it was destroyed. Still another year it was a pair of mares that volunteered to be covered in honey and try to join Da and Ma in bed...... That one didn't work out well for the mares. After years of stuff like that me and Scootaloo's class simply sent him a large bouquet of normal flowers.  It drove him nuts trying to figure out what the trick to it was. Here's a hint, there wasn't one.” Pip grinned as Scootaloo snickered. “This time it was a little weird. Even for the Guard.”

Jer'rahd stood next to the crate, the massive box set out on the carpet in the living room. A green shield blocking the doorway to the kitchen so the foals wouldn't get hurt if it was something explosive, or annoying like the crate of  parasprites that came one year. Luna stood across from him, ready to strike down anything that came out.

“Fra-gi-ley... What is that Prench?” Jer'rahd asked.  

“Pretty sure it says 'Fragile'.” Luna corrected.

“Oh yeah.....” Jer'rahd muttered, jabbing a crowbar into the side of the crate and working it around to pop open the top.

As he looked inside there didn't seem to be anything but packing material. 

“There could be anything in there....” Jer'rahd muttered.

“Maybe it's empty and they forgot.” Luna hoped.

Jer'rahd started digging through the mass of saw dust making a bigger mess than the animals had earlier.

“Huh... would you look at that?” Jer'rahd chuckled.

“What what is it?” Luna demanded as Jer'rahd laughed.

A moment later he pulled something out of the crate that seemed to be a limb.  He waved it around a little letting the shield blocking Pipsqueak and the others out of the room. Setting the limb on the corner of the  crate we could see it was mounted on a plaque of some kind and was a very shapely looking leg, likely a mares. There was a mesh stocking running from hoof to haunch and a good bit of flank was present on the top.

“You modeling for something you've not told me about Luna?” Jer'rahd smirked wide.  

The fur of the leg was a dark blue coloration perfectly matching  Ma's fur color. The cutiemark on the flank was a dead give away as well on who the model for it was.

“What....” Ma stammered.

“Don't suppose you still have the rest of the outfit to put on so I can see it all do you?” Jer'rahd snarked as Luna turned a brighter shade of red.

“What is it?” Luna demanded.

“A leg.... like a statue......” Jer'rahd explained.

“Yes very artistic.” Brush deadpanned staring at the leg only for Luna to cover his eyes with her wing.

“Hey there's more.” Pipsqueak pointed out looking into the crate. 

Da looked inside and chuckled pulling out what looked to be a lamp shade and put it on top of the lamp. The effect making it look like the leg had part of a very tiny skirt to go along with it.

“You sure you don't have this outfit?”Jer'rahd chuckled. ' Hmm? There's a button.”

Pushing the button caused the cutie mark of the moon to glow, the light reflecting off the lampshade and illuminating a good portion of the room. They all stared for a moment or two before Jer'rahd started to laugh.

“Oh by the stars that is perfect.” The gray unicorn cackles” It's glorious, I love it.”

*“Despite Da's amusement at the lamp, Ma was far less than thrilled even if it was modeled after her. Then again, maybe it was because it was modeled after her she was annoyed.” Adult Pip chuckled. “ Of course you know this meant war. I knew Ma was hesitant about simply getting rid of it.  Da would have set fire to it himself if  she had asked, but it wasn't often that Da laughed like that. He was genuinely amused at something rather than his usual snarky or forced laughter. He knew it was a trap of course, his trainees had specificity gotten the lamp to annoy him by use of Ma. What we didn't realize until much later, was they had commissioned thee lamp to be made of Celestia's leg, but the artisan was aaDiamond Dogg glass blower whowasn'tt familiar with which Princess was which. He asked the Guard who commissioned it which Princess and was told 'the one on the bits we gave you.' Unfortunately for the jokers the bit the Dog picked was a newly minted one with both Princesses on it and the first side the Dog saw was the one with Luna on it. So rather than annoy Da with  Aunt Celestia's leg, they got him Ma's.”

===================================================

*“Now neither Da or Ma had ever really gotten a Hearths Warming tree before. This year however  the Apples were headed away to a massive party in Appleoooza. Starfall, Fluttershy, and Rainbow Dash were being drug along as well. Bleu and Spike were still working out the kinks in what ever was going on in the Dragonlands and would only have time to swing by for a few hours to visit. Twilight and Celestia who would be visiting with Twilight's family in the Crystal Empire. Ma agreed to stay to make sure everything ran smoothly, though she immediately canceled court and gave as many ponies as she could the holiday off.  Of course this left them to get a tree themselves and they had no idea how to do it. Ma just wanted to buy one, though Da was convinced by a third party to go out and hunt his own.”

Jer'rahd grumbled pushing his way through chest high snow, Berry sitting on his back bundled up in several coats and scarves and Pip and Brush followed along in the trail he was leaving as they ventured up the slope of the Manterhorn looking for a Hearths Warming tree. Not far away the leader of this group practically pronked along through the snow, having much less issue than the shorter Jer'rahd.

“Rhede, didn't they invent Hearths Warming tree lots so ponies wouldn't have to hike out to the middle of no where and waste their whole day?” Jer'rahd growled.

“Father i cannot feel my hooves.” Brush complained

“No Jer, they invented them cause ponies forgot how to have a good old fashion fun family Hearths Warming, and are satisfied with scrawny ,dead, overpriced trees that have no special meaning at all.” Rhede explained.

“Father I cannot feel my tail.” Brush complained from behind Pip.

“We're doing this how we did it in the old days, we're going out and were gonna cut down the perfect tree with our bare hooves.” Rhede cheered.

“Father I cannot feel my legs.” Brush protested.

“Great did you remember the ax, right ?” Jer'rahd demanded.

“Why, you have your sword right?” Rhede asked with a smirk.

“I am NOT using the Waning Moon to cut down a tree!” Jer'rahd shouted, a few Timberwolves howling in the distance at his yell.

“Father I cannot feel my fur.” Brush protested.

“Rhede.... my son is frozen from the neck down.....” Jer'rahd muttered.

“That's all part of the experience Jer.” Rhede chimed not seeming the slightest bit affected by the cold.  

“I should have known something was up when Velkorn suddenly had a dental appointment......” Jer'rahd growled.

“ Oh it's fine she's just getting ready for a trip up to see the  Snow Ponies before swinging back through Applooza to see all the Apples there. We'll be back just after Hearths Warming and we can hang out then.” Rhede commented. “THERE!!”

The red pony shouted and lept through the snow bounding towards a tree in the distance. For some reason  the tree was highly illuminated as if a ray of sun coming down from above was showing the path to it, and the foals all swore they heard a choir of some kind.

“It's perfect.” Rhede grinned.

“Rhede, this tree too big.” Jer'rahd protests.

“It's not big , it's …. full.”

“It won't fit in our quarters...” Jer'rahd  responded.

“Pretty sure it won't fit in the court yard Da.” Pip pointed out.

The tree itself was easily two stories tall and nearly as big around, it seemed less like a Hearths Warming tree and more like something that some pony wearing flannel and drinking maple syrup  would float down a river to a saw mill while singing to every one that he's okay.

“It's not gonna go in the court yard young Pipsqueak, it's going in your living room.” Rhede chuckled.

“Well it is rather nice.” Jer'rahd admitted as Berry nodded.” What do you think Pip, Brush?”

“I like it.” Pip commented.

“I'll look at it later father, my eyes are frozen.” Brush bemoaned.

Rhede laughed.” It will be a symbol of a proper Hearths Warming....”

“Rhede seriously you better have a saw in that bag of yours. I am not cutting this down with my sword.......” Jer'rahd grumbled.

=====================================================

Much later Jer'rahd stood looking at the bound up tree. The top of it  bent at an angle as it pressed against the ceiling. Luna and the foals stood near by looking up at it curiously.

“Seriously remind me to call into question Rhede's ability to gauge size next time it comes up.” Jer'rahd grumbled floating a knife over to start to work on the cord holding the tree bundled up.

“Is there going to be room for the star on the top?” Luna asked.

“Yeah should be..., might have to do a little trimming though, it is a very nice tree.” Jer'rahd admitted. “ I'll give Rhede that at least. Alright here we go.”

Jer'rahd cut through the cord only for the trees branches to spring out, striking out at the surrounding furniture knocking things every where and forcing Luna to quickly raise a shield to protect the foals as the branches knocked over book shelves, tables and other knick knacks off the walls as it suddenly blossomed out, much bigger than it had seemed before. 

Pipsqueak took note however that the leg lamp was no where near the expanding branches , yet the  brief glow of  Luna's magic sent it sailing to crash to the floor along with everything else.

“Are you alright?” Brush asked not able to see more than Jer'rahd's tail in the mess of the tree.

“Yeah... I'm fine... it's rather sappy in here. Guess it needs a little more trimming.” Jer'rahd  commented from inside the tree.” What was that crash?”

“It seems the tree  expanding has broken your lamp. “ Luna said in a tone of voice that was almost tragic sounding, despite being obviously forced.

Jer'rahd backed out of the tree blinking  as he headed over to where the lamp had fallen to the ground. The leg of it had shattered in several places and lay strewn across the floor.  Jer'rahd let out a long sigh and shook his head.

“I just don't know what went wrong, I thought it was out of the way of the tree..” Luna tried to placate only for Jer'rahd to laugh.

“Jealous of a lamp ….” Jer'rahd smirked making Luna blush. “ One that was your own flank. Tisk Tisk. Bleu's gonna have a field day when I tell her this.”

“You wouldn't....” Luna threatened her ears flattening as Jer'rahd's grin got even wider.

*“For those of you who don't know how Ma and Da's relationship works.... well I can't really explain it, sure they got in arguments and fought like every other pony, but their arguments tended to be weird or  not make much sense. At times they seemed to be doing their best to, not argue and then they wound up arguing about that. Neither of them want to upset the other in any way so most of their problems wind up being sorted in some sort of weird interpretive verbal dance.  More often than not the threat of Bleu or Rhede being told something silly that one or the other did was enough to end the fight. “ Adult Pip narrated.” Of course this time ma didn't seem to want to let it go at that.”

“Doesn't matter that was still the ugliest lamp I have ever seen in my life.” Luna snorted.

“It was modeled after your leg.” Jer'rahd snorted in amusement. 

“I don't care!” Luna fussed storming off leaving Jer'rahd to pick up the pieces  of the lamp cackling all the while.

*“Da actually still has that lamp. He found some one to put it back together and he has it set up in his office. A lot of strange stories came about because of that  and the Diamond Dog who made it saw a upswing in business because of it.“ Adult Pip commented. “Da even gave Twilight one for Hearths warming one year, based off auntie Celestia and had one made for Shining Armor of Cadence. None of the Princesses have forgiven him for that one yet.”

===========================================

*“The next day at school was a interesting one,  most if not all of the students had Brought Miss Cheerilee small gifts.. a few of them, which were still moving, were turned loose into one of the class terrariums specificity designed for that purpose. Miss Cheerilee had long gotten used to various creepy crawlies and very little bothered her. Still after Tirek's attack  Berry managed to be the first in a while to make her scream out with a few hundred crystal spiders crawling out of  a gift. Da was highly amused by that, as was Ma, but she at least hid it better.” Adult Pip commented. “I decided to splurge a little , something of a bribe I suppose and got her a rather pricy fresh fruit basket. It was one of the first times I had actually tapped into the allowance I got to do something.  Looking back I probably had enough money in the account set up to just buy the Sword I wanted outright, well aside from the fact no adult would sell something like that to a foal.”

Miss Cheerilee stared at the fruit basket that walked into the room by itself. As did a number of other students. The massive pile tottered towards her desk on tiny hooves before being lifted up  onto the desk, shoving a number of other gifts out of the way to thud on her desk. She stared at it a moment before pushing it out of the way to see the smiling face of Pipsqueak on the other side.

“Ummm.. thank you very much Pip.... you can go to your seat now.....” Miss Cheerilee stammered as the two stared at each other for a uncomfortable moment.

Once Pipsqueak went to his seat  Miss Cherrilee stood up with a stack of papers  handing them out as she went along the desks. 

“Alright class these are your theme papers. I've graded them accordingly. Over all I am impressed, you did very well, with some exceptions of course.” Miss Cheerilee stated looking at Scootaloo and  Sweetiebelle, along with another glare at Snips and Snails who didn't seem to register the look.

*“Franticly I yanked open the paper, visions of a perfect score in my head. With that paper in hoof I could easily convince  Ma and Pa to get me that sword. I pulled open my folder and stared down in near bliss, there at the top of the paper was a big red......... C +.........................” Adult Pip complained. “ And down there at the very bottom of the page in bright red were the words I had come to loathe. ' You'll poke your eye out.'  I stared up at Miss Cherrilee like she was a witch, shoving the paper into my saddlebag. Was there no end to this conspiracy of irrational prejudices against Crimson Strap-hanger and his wonderful smith work? Was there no way out of this web of  overprotective adults Tartarus bent on making sure I didn't get my Crimson Strap-hanger?...Wait...... Santa.... of course.... I would ask Santa Hooves!  There was no stopping it this time surely Santa Hooves could deliver despite what any pony else would say.”

========================

*“The annual Canterlot  Hearths Warming parade was always a sight to behold, particularly since we always got to watch it from the main balcony of the palace as it passed by the front gates, turned around and went back down through Canterlot and back to where it started in the Ponyville district. There were market stalls with sweet treats and games and everything else set up across the entire parade route and down a few more side streets as well. Hundreds of floats of all shapes and sizes filled the street.“ Adult pip explained.” Floats filled with musicians, ones for stores and farms, some tossing small treats to the foals running around on the street, others playing music as they plodded along, all of them trying to advertize for their  business or group without seeming to be moving billboards. It was glorious. It's still not bad nowadays either, but there's far less floats and some of the ponies don't even seem to be trying that hard, though we do have the Guard formations, marching bands and giant balloons shaped like game and foal's book characters.”

Brush, Pipsqueak, Berry, and Orange as well, looked down from the palace balcony watching the  parade pass. Pipsqueak knew better than to tell his older sister what he wanted for Hearths Warming. The medical pony in training practically coined the phrase ' You'll poke your eye out.' Still Pipsqueak ignored that, greatly excited to see the last float come up after the one for Carousel Boutique. Sitting on the float was a massive Caribou. He was dressed in all red with white trim. The  venerable looking  reindeer smiled and waved to the  foals in the crowd as the float carried him back down to the Ponyville district where he would set up a temporary work shop in the town hall. 

*“Now just about every foal in New Canterlot knew that this wasn't the real Santa Hooves. A fake beard and cheap costume were not enough to fool any one over the age of  three. He was clearly one of Santa Hooves's helpers. The Big Guy would be too busy this time of year to visit every where and ask what everyone wanted for Hearths Warming, so he had his assistants do it.” Adult Pip explained.” And the sooner you got to sit in one of the helpers laps to tell them what you wanted for  Hearths Warming the more likely it would be you would get it.”

Orange had already moved out of the palace by that point. She had finished her last year of school and was now attending New Canterlot College to get her medical degree. She agreed to foal sit simply due to Jer'rahd and Luna being required to attended one of the holiday balls the nobles threw. Both of them tried every year to get out of it, but Twilight and Celestia always managed to get them to attend. Both of them would be annoyed later  as they would be out all night with ponies they couldn't care less about, so Orange was called in while she was on a break from classes. Despite the young mares complaints about her adopted parents, she did care for the others like they really were her siblings.

*“The trip down to the Ponyville district was no different than when we were going to school save Orange was with us , Guards still kept an eye on us from afar, their orders to try and allow us as normal a life as we could get.” Adult Pip explained. “You lot don't have to worry as much about that as you didn't have a time in your life when you were not royalty of some sort. Given ma and Da's positions now it's kinda murky. Da's Regent of Gallopagos, Guard Captain of the Six Sixty Sixth, and Lord of the former Blue Blood estates. And ma was Queen of the Changelings, Former Princess of the Night and  the current Princess of the Night's teacher/ assistant. We're not really 'royal' per-say anymore.”

The Ponyville District town hall was decorated  out of the ears with Hearths Warming cheer. Clearly Pinkie Pie and Discord had out done themselves this time. The town hall seemed like a glowing beacon of light on it's own, decorated up like it was a tree, every inch of the old structure covered in lights. When Canterlot dropped on top of Ponyville at the end of the war, there wasn't much need for a separate smaller government building in the lower district of New Canterlot. Mayor Mare had been terrified her job was going to be taken away only for Auntie Celestia to place her in pretty much the same role as she had been before, only over the entirety of New Canterlot.  She dealt with all the usual smaller civic functions of running a city leaving the Princesses to deal with the big stuff.

Inside the building was a two story mountain of  presents and fake snow.  A candy cane walk way lined with ponies in Caribou costumes lead up to where the massive form of Santa Hooves sat. Foals were led up a path to the big guy and once they told him what they wanted they were placed on a slide and sent back down to the bottom into piles of fluff.  Berry, Brush and Pipsqueak hurriedly rushed to the spot in line at the end of the stairs only for a stallions voice to  stop them.

“Hey! Where do you three think you're going?” The tall white Pegasus demanded. Looking down at the foals with the sort of annoyance only a tired adult could muster. His tiny daughter sat on his back looking over his wing at the other foals.

“To see Santa.” Brush deadpans.

“This is the start of the line.” The white Pegasus let out an exasperated sigh, clearly not the first time he'd had to explain it. “The end of the line is back there.”

Pip looked back to where he had pointed, twitching a little. The line seemed to stretch out another set of doors and all the way down past Bon Bon's Candy Shop.  The three foals trudged to the back of the line, Orange staying close but stopping by to talk to a few of her friends. The group wound up at the very end behind Snails the town halls glow muted in the distance.

Snails slowly turned, the lanky unicorn had a dopey grin on his face and was bundled up heavily  and for some reason was wearing an aviator's cap and goggles. His smile didn't falter as he looked at Pipsqueak and the others.

“I like Santa....” Snails stated flatly. 

Pipsqueak rolled his eyes wondering if he would ever get to see Santa Hooves at this rate.



What seemed like hours later  the small group had made it to the top of the mountain. Pipsqueak watched as Snails was picked up by a rather burly looking white pony that Pipsqueak almost didn't notice had wings until the huge slab of muscle floated Snails up to Santa's lap.

“TELL SANTA HOOVES WHAT YOU WANT FOR HEARTHS WARMING LITTLE COLT!” The large pony screamed out. 

Whether it was suddenly being put in the giant Caribou's lap or the screaming of the massive pony Snails couldn't help but start panicking and screaming himself. Santa Hooves rolled his eyes as a unicorn 'helper' lifted Snails off Santa's lap and set him on the slide, sending the screaming foal down the twisty slide.

“NEXT FOAL, YEAH!” the bulky biceped pony shouted, fluttering over and gently picking up Berry. He set the small filly on Santa's lap before fluttering off. 

The Caribou seemed to relax a little as Berry stared up at him. At least she wasn't screaming. “ And what would you like for Hearths Warming little filly?”

Berry without missing a beat pulled a list out of her coat and offered it to him. Santa adjusted his glasses looking over the list his eyes getting wider and wider as he read it.

“Ummmm, Santa thinks that some of these items are a violation of a number of treaties with other nations, three are outright illegal, and at least two of them defy the laws of reality as we know them.....” The Caribou stammered.

Berry pouted.

“Umm Santa thinks he can get the porcelain tea set however.” the Caribou quickly added getting a small nod from Berry before she was lifted up by the unicorn and set on the slide. Santa shuddered as she slid down the slope. “ Okay that was the first one that scared me a little....”

“NEXT FOAL!!! YEAH!!! “ the burly pony shouted picking Pipsqueak up and setting him down in Santa's lap.

“Ho ho ho...” Santa Hooves stated. “ And what's your name little colt?”

“Pipsqueak..” Pipsqueak stated. Sat on Santa's lap Pipsqueak's mind had gone blank, his ears flattened to his head as he desperately tried to recall what he wanted.

“Not to rush but we still have a lot of foals left to see tonight.” The unicorn stated.

Still stunned Pipsqueak couldn't respond.

“How about a nice hoofball?” Santa offers noting Pipsqueak's some what vacant stare and brief nod.

Santa nodded and the unicorns magic grasped Pipsqueak picking him up to set him on the slide. In a moment of panic it all came back and Pipsqueak stuck out his hooves stopping his decent  trying to clamor back up the slide.

“NO!” Pipsqueak yelped  as she caught himself crawling back up the slide to stare up at Santa who looked more than a little confused. “ No No, I want an Official  Crimson Strap-hanger drop forged magically reenforced, blued, pure water quenched sword...”

Santa hooves stared down at Pipsqueak for a moment before shrugging a little .

“You'll poke your eye out colt.”Santa Hooves stated. The unicorn gave Pipsqueak a little shove with her magic sending the little colt down the slide as he screamed out his disbelief to the stars above.

======================================================

“That star is crooked.” Jer'rahd grumbled looking up at the top of the tree.

“The star is perfectly fine Jer'rahd.” Luna sighed rolling her eyes as Jer'rahd stare up at the thickly decorated tree his magic fiddling with the top.

*“The tree was near perfect. We had used all the ornaments we had and then went out and got new ones and the back of the tree was still barren. In all this time I have yet to see a tree as perfect as that one.” Adult Pip chuckled.

“Do you hear something?” Brush asked.

“No .” Orange stated flipping another page in her medical book.

“Nah I hear it too.” Jer'rahd mentioned his ears perked. He slowly moved around the tree before peering past a few lights, reaching up with a hoof to push  a couple of branches aside peering into the shadowy recesses of the massive tree. 

“Huh I don't hear it now. Must have been something outsiAHHHHH BUCK!!!” Jer'rahd yelped as a small gray form launches itself from the tree attaching to his face biting and clawing sending the gray unicorn staggering back flailing with a large marsupial attached to his face gnawing on his horn.

Luna looked up as Jer'rahd flailed past her, tripping over the table to crash to the floor. “Ahh so that's where Tiberius has been hiding.” 

Orange simply lifted her book off the table as Jer'rahd crashed over it  trying to pull the opposom off his face.

“Berry go help your father. You, Pipsqueak, and Brush need to head to bed. Hate for Santa Hooves to be flying by and have to pass us up cause some little ponies where still awake.” Luna  chided all but ignoring Jer'rahd's plight thanks to her pet.

Berry pronked over to the flailing form of Jer'rahd plucking the hissing beast from him. Tiberious instantly went from hate fueled rage machine to huggable little teddy bear the moment Berry picked him up. Still the little beady eyed beastie glared at Jer'rahd with murder in his eyes, a look that was returned by the prone unicorn. They both knew that so long as Tiberious  kept himself friendly with both Luna and Berry  Jer'rahd wouldn't touch him. Of course the oppossom had to suffer being cuddled and dressed up in doll clothes by Berry, but he clearly thought it was a small price to pay for the freedom to practicly do anything to Jer'rahd.

“Cripes what did you do to him this time?” Orange chuckled as the foals ran off to go to bed.

“Gave the stinky little rat a bath.” Jer'rahd muttered checking his horn for tooth marks.

=======================================================

*“The next day, all across Equestria the thunder of little hooves rushing from their rooms to the tree on Hearths Warming Morning could be heard across the continent. Auntie Celestia once said that it was the only time of the year where she raised the sun from a cloud above the city, far from the usual noise just so she could hear that sound as it thundered all over Equestria, unbridled wonder and joy. Ma has said since becoming a Changeling the massive rush of joy and love was enough to glut every Changeling on the continent.” Adult Pip chuckled. “ At that exact moment  Berry, myself, and Brush had practically  steam rolled over each other to get to the tree. Even the usually stoic Brush couldn't hide his joy  at the sight of the massive tree, in all its glory, stuffed full of presents. We fell on it like locusts digging through the pile searching for any package that had our names on it.”

Jer'rahd, Luna and Orange came down the hall a little slower. With the early hour Luna and Jer'rahd would usual be getting ready for bed after the night  court so their schedule was all sorts of off kilter. Orange was just not a morning pony. The occasional gasp and  giggle was more than enough to rouse them.

Luna and Jer'rahd thudded down on the couch and orange went to  go hunt down some coffee.

“Happy Hearths Warming …..” Jer'rahd yawned....” Hold up hold up....  Who gets to play Santa this year?” Berry?”

“No I think it's Pipsqueak's turn, Berry played Santa last year.” Luna stated.

The little unicorn pouted a bit though Pipsqueak got up  to pick up a package  looking at the tag  ready to pass it out.

“Make sure to give Berry her gift first, she looks ready to dive into the tree.... again.” Jer'rahd smirked.

“Oh I think I see something from auntie Cadence over there too for you Pip. Cadence always seems to send such wonderful things.” Luna smiled as Jer'rahd rolled his eyes.

*“The carnage began in earnest once everything was passed out, shredding paper, and the noise of violence as packages were ripped open filled their air. The room looked like a battleground of presents, empty boxes laying about, their contents put on display. There was also a growing pile of clothing strewn across one of the  empty chairs, flung there by  what ever foal was unfortunate enough to be given clothing for a present.” Adult Pip chuckled.

Aside from the clothing  every pony seemed thrilled with what they got, Berry was already trying to strangle to death a stuffed plush Ursa minor that was bigger than she was, and Brush was checking through the various colors of the paints he had been given.

“So what did  Auntie Cadence send you Pipsqueak?” Luna asked.

Pip stood there staring in the box before staring at  Luna as if to answer.

“i don't want to.....” Pip muttered.

“What go on and show every one.” Luna demanded.

*“Five years after my adoption by Ma and Pa and I had yet to meet auntie Cadence in person. But for all those years it seemed she had been laboring under the delusion that I was not only perpetually four years old, but also a filly.” Adult Pip grumbled.

Holding up the pink nightmare, Luna nearly squeed at the adorableness of it while Jer'rahd  simply rubbed his temples with a hoof.

“Oh isn't that sweet. Go and try it on.” Luna chimes.

“I don't want to.” Pip grumbled.

“Pip go put on the present.” Luna ordered. “ She went to all the trouble to send something. You can at least try it on.”

Pip marched away dragging the mess with him as the others continued to pick things out from under the tree.

Not long after that Pip reluctantly returned dressed in the garishlypink onsie with large floppy rabbit ears and little bunnys on each hoof.

*“Immediately my hooves began to sweat as those fluffy bunny's on each hoof stared up at me sappily with their blue button eyes. As Ma lost herself in the cuteness and my siblings collapsed clutching their sides at my predicament. Lucky stiffs, Auntie Cadence never sent them anything like this. I simply hoped Rumble would never hear of this as the humiliation would make my remaining school years unbearable.” Adult Pip sighed.

“That is the most precious thing I have ever seen.” Luna gasped wide eyed.

“He looks like a deranged Angel Bunny......” Jer'rahd stated flatly.

“He does not.” Luna poked Jer'rahd's shoulder with her hoof.

“He does too, he looks like a Pink Nightmare.” Jer'rahd sighed. “Are you happy wearing that?”

Pipsqueak shook his head like mad , the ears of the suit flopping about wildly.

“Do you want to take it off?” Jer'rahd asked a little worried that Pip's head would roll from his shoulders with how fast he nodded. “ Tell him to take it off.”

“Fine you'll only wear it when Auntie Cadence visits.” Luna relented as Pip rushed away as fast as he could to remove the garment.

*“As a side note  Aunt Cadence got Brush Paints, Orange some Jewelry and Berry a whole mess of things. I was the only one she seemed confused about. It wasn't until  later when I finally met her she realized her mistake. Unfortunately like Ma she thought it was the most adorable thing ever too.” Adult Pip sighed.

Not that much later Orange had headed out to see a few of her friends, Berry had fallen asleep atop of  her new stuffed  Ursa and Brush had gone back to his room to try and see what he could do with some of his new paints. Pipsqueak was sitting between Luna and  Jer'rahd. Fiddling with a Book on map making Twilight had given him.

“Well that was nice. “ Luna sighed stretching out a wing. “But look at this mess..... who's turn was it to clean up this year?”

“Brushes.” Pip Grumbled.

“Didn't he do it last year?” Jer'rahd asked.

“He's not in here to say otherwise, so he can get to do it again this year....” Pip stated getting a chuckle from Jer'rahd.

“So did you get everything you wanted for  Hearths Warming.?” Luna asked softly.

“Yeah.. almost.” Pipsqueak admitted.

“Almost huh? Jer'rahd commented. “ Well that's life. There's always next Hearths Warming.”

Jer'rahd looked up at the ceiling then smirked a little pushing Pip's book away with a hoof. “ Hey.. what's that over there?”

“What?” Pipsqueak asked.

“Over there behind the desk.”Jer'rahd smirked.” Go check it out.” he started pushing Pip off the couch.

Pipsqueak walked over glancing behind the desk, he could see the corner of what ever it was  just under the back edge of the desk as he walked up, likely what Jer'rahd saw.  He clamored up in the chair to reach behind the desk, pulling out a long  fairly thin package with some weight in it out.

“What's that?” Luna asked curiously.

“I dunno Santa must have left it.....” Jer'rahd stated getting a glare from Luna.

“Jer'rahd if that's what I think it is....”Luna growled.

“Oooh, vague threats... I'm getting chills. Do it again.” Jer'rahd grinned making a kissy face at Luna who rolled her eyes.

Pipsqueak ignored them, noting his name on the package and blinking in confusion before tearing into it  with curious interest, and prying open the  box underneath.

“Whoa....”Pip stammered as he stared into the box.

*“It didn't seem like any sort of sword I had seen before, particularly as it didn't have the reddish glow that was common of all Crimson Strap-hanger blades. The blade was more of a elongated diamond shape, with a short grip, wrapped in the same blue silk that Da's sword was wrapped in. On the end instead of a standard pommel was a metal ring big enough for me to put my hoof through.” Adult Pip explained.

“ Jer'rahd why did you give him that?” Luna grumbled.

“What do you mean? You made it for him.” Jer'rahd chuckled.

“Yeah for when he's older.” Luna muttered.

“He's about the same age I was when my grandfather started showing me how to use  a sword.” Jer'rahd explained. “ Better to get the practice in now. Besides you enchanted that thing with enough protection spells he could probably stab himself with it and it wouldn't hurt him.”

“It doesn't look like a Crimson Strap-hanger.....” Pip blinked looking over the package which contained the sheathed blade, a scabbard and belt and a cleaning and sharpening kit.

“It's not, that guys a hack, not even a real dragon just a half dragon that's not bad at smithing. That blade was designed by an Earth Pony engineer and forged with the help of some skilled dragons by your Auntie Bleu. Then your Ma enchanted the fool out of it. The design is like that because you don't have magic or wings to aid in your control of the blade.  You'll be able to use your hooves, teeth and even your tail to wield it.” Jer'rahd explained. “While it's not on par with the Waning Moon or some of the Nightmare forged blades, no better weapon has likely been crafted in over a thousand years. Any way  I'll save the history lesson for later. I set up a dummy in the court yard, why not go have a few swings to test the weight and feel of it.  Now this isn't a toy Pip, don't do anything stupid like try and poke your eye out or something.”

“Put on your boots and coat. It's still cold in the court yard.” Luna chided.

=============================================================
[ Current Hearths Warming.]

“And of course I rushed outside to slash that dummy to bits.” Pip explained. “I named the blade Salamander a while back, it's got some interesting fire properties in it I couldn't use fully until now.”

The foals stared at him in a strange mix of interest and confusion.

“So did you ever poke your eye out?” Dawn asked suddenly.

Pip blinked  and frowned, about to answer when a pair of young mare's popped up from behind the couch he and Scootaloo were sitting on.

“Of course he did cause that stuffs dangerous, here watch!” Applebloom shouted, slapping her cousin on the back of the head nearly knocking him off the couch.

A thud and a rolling sound drew the foals attention from Sweetiebelle and Applebloom to a large glass eye rolling on the floor towards them.  As one, the foals all screamed at the sight and took off like a shot thundering out of the room screaming about being attacked by an eye ball.

Pip growled turning his head back up staring at the half Elk and the unicorn songstress as they giggled madly, neither of his eyes damaged in any shape of form.

“What did you do that for?” Pip sighed “They'll be riled up for hours now.”

“Cause it was funny.” Sweetiebelle giggled.

“Where did you even git that glass eye?” Applebloom asked impressed at the plan she had been a part of.

“Sent away.” Sweetiebelle shrugged floating the eye back over to her and into a saddlebag.

“Well glad to see you managed to pick Applebloom up on that ship of yours Sweetiebelle. How long have you been here?” Scootaloo asked, excited to see her friends, but not excited enough not  to get up from where she had decided to lay over Pip's lap.

“Since Pip's meeting with Santa Hooves.” Sweetiebelle grinned.

“Ahhh crap.” Pip grumbled.

“Think yah might still have that bunny outfit Pip.... bet it'd look cute on yah.” Applebloom grinned.

Pip growled his ears flattening to his head trying to think of a way to get his cousin back without it becoming a international incident with the Elk. A small smirk crossed his features as he figured something out.

“You didn't bring your entourage with you Bloom?” Pip stated.” Figured those guys wouldn't let you out of their sight.”

“Just three of um. Sent um to the kitchen to help themselves to some vittles.” Applebloom chuckled. “Don't try tah distract me, ya ain't getting out of this that easily.”

“So the three of them are in the kitchen. Unsupervised...... with Da.....” Pip's grin widened as Scootaloo caught on.

“Not alone, but with my Dad too.” Scootaloo chuckled as the gears clicked and Applebloom adopted a panicked expression.

“Ahhh crab apples...” Applebloom cursed.

=========================================

[In the kitchen]

Jer'rahd looked at the three Elk bucks that were contesting for the hoof of  one of his youngest relatives Applebloom. With Rhede no longer here and Big mac busy at the moment he felt perhaps it was his duty to let these Elk know exactly what might happen if they thought to use or hurt Applebloom.

“Soarin.” Jer'rahd smirked.

“Yeah?” The blue Pegasus asked looking up from the notes he was taking from Jer'rahd.

“Let's start a practical lesson here shall we.” Jer'rahd took a last swig of his cider, passing off the mug to the Pegasus before advancing on the three unaware Elk. “ Hold my drink.....”